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There was a British fort at Vincennes in what is now In-di-an-a. There was another British fort or post at Kas-kas-ki-a in what is now the State of Il-li-nois. George Rogers Clark was an American colonel. He wanted to stop the murder of the settlers by the Indians. He thought that he could do it by taking the British posts. He had three hundred men. They went down the O-hi-o River in boats.
They came to the door of a large wig-wam. A chief stood in the door. He shaded his eyes with both hands, as if the sun were shining in his face. Then he made a little speech. He said, "French-men, how bright the sun shines when you come to see us! We are all waiting for you. You shall now come into our houses in peace." The Il-li-nois Indians made a feast for their new friends.
This meant that they were friendly. The Indians now offered the peace pipe to the French-men. The French-men took it, and smoked with the Indians. This was the Indian way of saying, "We are friends." Mar-quette asked the Indians what tribe they belonged to. They told him that they were of the tribe called the Il-li-nois. They took Jo-li-et and Mar-quette into their village.
The friendly Il-li-nois had told them that the Indians they would see were bad, and that they would kill any one who came into their country. The Frenchmen had heard before this that there were demons and monsters in the river. One day they saw some high rocks with pictures painted on them. The ugly pictures made them think of these monsters. They were painted in red, black, and green colors.
Last, they were fed with buf-fa-lo meat. The next morning six hundred Indians went to the canoes to tell the Frenchmen good-by. They gave Mar-quette a young Indian slave. And they gave him a peace pipe to carry with him. When Mar-quette and his men left the Il-li-nois, they went on down the river.
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